Posted on 08/09/2014 7:07:30 AM PDT by NYer
Ditto! One day last week, I found myself watching The Lone Ranger ... that was the only worthwhile viewing at that time of day.
Some "What's My Line" episodes can still be viewed on YouTube.
I’m an abstinent former TV addict....
Grace is largely missing from the culture. TV may have a had a role in it’s near demise
I have watched a couple episodes of the old “What’s My Line?”
What an era. The panel of all New Yorkers asking Colonel Sanders if he was in the “legitimate theater” and what not?
My children love watching the old Burns and Allen show, where there is a certain classiness of demeanour even as the characters do completely ridiculous things.
Compare the best of those old shows to “Seinfeld”, and one difference is a genuine affection for the characters. Even Ralph Kramden always apologizes in the end, and Alice always forgives him.
Typical. They don’t watch shows on TV, but they write 1,000 words on how they suck.
Not worth reading.
Dorothy Killgallen was hot.
It’d be interesting to see a thread here where we all had to respond in the same graceful manner. I know I’m guilty of letting my frustrations with unfolding events manifest in my replies sometimes.
I agree. Remember, too, that the young ‘uns are watching.
I recall growing up watching these shows, and while I understood it was make-believe, there was still a certain sense of how grown-ups should relate to one another.
What the kids are exposed to now is freneticism, designed to inhibit thought, and sexualization, designed to damage their souls.
For a long while (before high speed internet) I turned to CDs of old radio shows for entertainment. There were a few shows in particular that showcased just how much Talent stars of that era had. One was Command Performance, an Armed Forces radio show for troops overseas. There was plenty of humor, and it was very funny without being crass or uncomfortable. And the radio dramas kept me on the edge of my seat without strings of four letter words or gory descriptions.
And then there is Groucho Marx and You Bet Your Life. I listened to a few of his shows and laughed out loud more than once. Brilliant.
Aaron Spelling was the popularizer of prurient television, but mean tv probably is an outgrowth of radio shows like The Bickersons, and showed up on tv in The Honeymooners.
Compare the way people dress in public now vs. in the 1940s and 1950s.
Well written and quite correct.
I’ll gladly take a quarter of a million dollars just to make a speech if someone was willing to pay me (and they’d probably get at least $50 worth of a speech too).
And you can watch on YouTube the What’s My Line episodes with Groucho Marx as a panelist and see the double entendres come out. Much of it still witty too.
I think much of America would be aghast if their manners had to return to the 1950s levels but I would be happy to see it return to at least a mid-60s level of civility.
It won’t happen because we have embraced the ghetto culture of f-bombs and poor grammar to the point that we have our first ghetto president.
Oh, and we have mourning doves and sparrows serenade our apartment most every morning and evening. Yes, they are more enjoyable than listening to drunks yelling or couples arguing.
Wifey watches the cooking shows, mainly the cook-offs by Ramsey. I was in the kitchen one night and heard non-stop bleeping. I went into the room and watched a few seconds of this man screaming and demeaning the candidates. While I realize TV execs think a show has to generate tension, I thought this exercise was way over the top, and my first instinct, had I been on the show, was to deck the guy if he said anything like that to me.
I notice too that this meanness and lack of “grace” in greeting cards as well. My boy and I have a good rapport, and on birthdays we send each other humourous cards featuring Homer Simpson, Bloom County or Calvin and Hobbs. Looking at some of the others, I was appalled at the spite and meanness passing itself off as “funny” cards. Some were really vicious, and you have to wonder at the mindset that creates this type of stuff and those who think people will accept it.
Out of curiosity, I just popped into the usenet and found/grabbed two episodes of What’s My Line. Guests: John Wayne and Gene Tierney. Should be interesting to watch.
INSP or Hallmark have some.
The Waltons and Little House. Andy Griffith was another. I loved the Brady Bunch
especially Marcia, Marcia, Marcia :)
But we comment, how good old shows, wouldn't make it in todays world.
I miss the innocence on Flipper and Gentle Ben and Lassie.
Heros and people to emulate, like Matt Dillon or Andy Taylor or the Cartwrights.
I leave the TV off much of the time, as whats on isn't usually worth even background noise. But when I have the tv on, I usually head for the older shows.
A number of years ago, my mom would watch all the Law And Order shows. I started complaining about all the negativity and darkness on the show. It didn't seem to take too long before mom stopped watching them.
Like the saying goes GIGO-Garbage In, Garbage Out.
What you allow into your life, has an effect on who you are and who you become.
The world is dark and angry enough and has its effect on me, just living and interacting with people. I don't need more condensed evil, purposely brought in, to subjugate me. I prefer more happy and pleasant things in my life.
Phillipians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
Exactly. It’s like saying “I haven’t had steak in 30 years but just know that it’s terrible”. I mean do what ya do, but you can’t really talk about how terrible something looks if you don’t see it. When I hear this I am always reminded of an old Dick Van Dyke episode where he explains to a guest that he is a comedy writer and she says snootily, “I don’t own a television machine”.
Sure there is some terrible crap out there. Always has been even back in the “golden age” of television. We always have selective memories when it comes to the past. But there are some of the most wonderful stories being told nowadays. Magnificent studies of humanity. I find it very easy to avoid the crap. I merely change the channel.
At the time programs like “What’s My Line” were criticized for being low and stupid. Part of a “vast wasteland”. I wonder what they would make of “The Walking Dead”?
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